Re: Cerviche

Huh? Do you mean freshness- staight of the lagoon- the largest in the world?

NC's reef is second only in size to our Great Barrier Reef. To see it from the air is amazing. To be paddling with kids and have the small reef fish swimming around your feet is also amazing.

I lived and worked there on and off from 1980-1984. My friends are restauranteurs and I moon-lighted at the now defunct Club Med as their nurse (handing out Panadol for hangovers, sunburn treatment and the very occasional trip to the public hospital, Gaston Bourret) was the extent of it.

When the cruise ships full of Australians came in, I helped out as a translator and in the kitchen when they were really pushed.

Re: Cerviche

Yes, I was aiming at freshness. If you go to sydney's fish market you are getting the leftovers after the export market, restaurants, supermarkets and fishshops have go theirs? Claudio's is still the best though.

Re: Cerviche

Claudio's is the best you can get from the markets (I was very pleased last year to have this confirmed by one of the senior floor managers of the market), if you can't get it from there you could try catching your own fish or living with the happy memory

Re: Cerviche

I mix the sole fish in small cubes, some chiles, red onion, red and yellow sweet pepper, chopped coriander and lime juice.I let it stand for about 30 min and serve it with sweet potatoes cooked in the oven with some oil.I've never tried with coconut milk , but it could taste nice....I've tried once with some mango chopped in cubes.

Re: Cerviche

I wish I could taste that "simple lunch" again, too. Last time I was in Nouvelle Caledonie, the restaurant was still there, but, of couse, the menu had changed.

The freshness of the fish, the lime and the coconut milk (from the trees surrounding us) were what "made" the dish. Nothing added except salt and pepper and a simple green salad afterwards. If given a choice, it (and a sorbet) afterwards and a dozen freshly shucked oysters as an entree would be my last meal.

Re: Cerviche

The Greeks might add oregano, but the Melanesians/Polynesians would never. The dish I ate was high on lime juice and coconut milk which makes me think it has a Tahitian influence (Polynesian).

I am a second generation French-Ukrainian-Irish- Anglo Australian married to a second generation Greek-Anglo who was brought up on traditional Anglo food so I'm not the best one to ask re traditional Greek food.

I do know that it's very regional and that in some areas they eat the slabs of salted fish, similar to what Italians call "baccala" or French call "moreau"- know that's incorrect spelling. My daughter has started Uni and has helped herself to my huge Collins Robert French dictionary and my philosophy texts.

Suggest you post on "Greece is Everywhere" in the Introductions forum. They would be better equipped to answer your question.

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